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Lip butter from The Body Shop

I've been avoiding the Body Shop recently as I've been trying to stop spending so much money on toiletries, but when I got hold of a '£10 off when you spend £20' voucher for use in store I couldn't resist. After selecting £20 worth of stuff I went to the counter to hand over my £10, spied this lip butter and decided to buy it too. At £4 (for a 10ml tub) it was rather expensive, but since all of the profits go to charity, I didn't feel too guilty.

I've tried a number of lip butters from TBS before and find them effective at protecting and hydrating my lips. They come in little tubs: this one has a purple base and a green lid with a colourful picture of lips on the label. This makes for an eye-catching and attractive product.

This lip butter is made with dragon fruit. To be honest I had never heard of this particular fruit and the Body Shop website doesn't offer much in the way of enlightenment. The scientific name according to the ingredients list is Hylocereus Undatus but that doesn't mean a great deal to me.

The product also contains Community Fair Trade beeswax, supplied by Guide D'Espoir in Cameroon. It is harvested using a traditional method which is sustainable. In addition it contains Community Fair Trade shea butter from Ghana, where trade has helped to fund medical centres and nursery schools. To find out more you can go to the Community Fair Trade section on the Body Shop website.

The butter is quite thick but less so when you get some on your finger, it doesn't move around in the pot but you can apply a thin layer to your lips. As The Body Shop state, it has a buttery texture and feels very soft on the lips. The butter is a very pale pink colour and has a lovely fresh tropical scent. If this is what dragon fruit smells like, I want some!

Lip balms generally fall into two categories: those which coat the lips to protect them from the elements and those which penetrate the lips to intensively hydrate. This butter, like other Body Shop lip butters, falls into the former category and for that reason I prefer to use it indoors, generally before bed so that it can soak into my lips overnight. It feels lovely on my lips, isn't at all sticky and I feel it is doing my lips a lot of good. Though it coats the lips, it doesn't just sit on top of them, I feel it is moisturising them deep-down.

As previously mentioned, 100% of the profits from this lip balm go to charity. 25% goes to The Body Shop Foundation, while the remaining 75% is divided between three charities: Kidscape, BUAV, and People & Planet. If you buy online, the profits are divided equally, but if you buy in store you can choose which charity your money goes to.

I highly recommend this lip butter. It smells lovely and is effectively moisturising, and though it is expensive, the money goes to charity.